A Place to Hide
by Ljiljana
Summary: -This- is why you should not pick up good looking strangers off random roads and dump them at your boyfriend's house.-Hmm, yaoi, AU


**A/N: **Many thanks to Jellybean12 for beta work!

This story was written for madSanja, for an art exchange. The prompt was Ino and Naruto dating, adultery, Sasuke suffering (.), Ino picking up Sasuke in her car on a rainy night, 'some smut'… It's all I can remember right now. But I hope I managed to pinpoint at least some of what you wanted, Poli!

* * *

**A Place to Hide**

The rain had started long before he got off the bus at the crossroad, but the wind showed its teeth only after Sasuke walked past the long line of trees in the clearing. He was cold and wet, without an umbrella or clear idea of where he was going. The sign at the crossroad said that there was a small town with a lake resort not far away and Sasuke, tired from all the aimless wandering he had done since he had turned his back on his brother and walked out of the house, asked the bus driver to stop. Konoha was the name of the town and Sasuke had decided that he would station himself there for a while on a whim.

The late afternoon was as black as night because of the heavy rain. The road was empty, and the steep, slippery climb, hard to conquer. When he could already see the lights on the town, the first car showed up on the road. It was hours too late to do anything about the water that had soaked through to his underwear and wind was keeping even his bone marrow frozen, so Sasuke didn't bother trying to hitchhike.

The car slowed down with a dramatic scream of the tires and finally ceased moving about ten meters in front of him. When Sasuke reached it, the passenger door opened.

"Hi!" A female voice said cheerfully. "Going to Konoha?"

There was only one person in the car. Sasuke had to bend to see the blonde hair and blue eyes of the girl at the wheel. "Yes."

"Come in!" She called.

Sasuke warned her. "I'm wet."

"It's not as close as it seems." She shook her head a little. "I couldn't possibly leave you here on this rain. Get in."

Well, that wasn't a tough sell. Sasuke got into the car. His soaked clothes made squishy sounds; it felt like he was sitting a pond. The warmth of the dry inside of the car stroked his wet skin lovingly for a moment, before he accommodated and started shaking.

The car lurched to a start with a loud and violent sound.

"I'm Ino." The girl said. She reached for something that was on the door at her side and Sasuke leaned forward to see. It was… something that looked suspiciously like a deformed baseball bat.

"What's that?"

"This?" Ino smiled. "It's just a fair warning. Cattle prod. So we don't get into any disagreements. It wouldn't kill you – probably – but it's not pleasant."

Sasuke returned his gaze toward the approaching lights of the town. He had no intention of attacking anyone, but it was smart of her to have some protection, especially if she had a habit of picking up strays on the road.

"What's your name?" She asked after a minute, and after he told her, she continued, "Why are you going to Konoha? Do you have some family there?"

"No."

"But," Ino glanced sideways. "The resort is closed; the season ended a month ago."

"There must be a motel somewhere in town."

The lights from the first houses were rare but bright against the evening sky. Soon, the road narrowed into the main street. Amber streetlights were warming up the grays and blacks of the drenched town and the small stores that lined both sides were still open. Konoha was a small place.

"There's an inn." Ino said when she turned to the second street on the left. "In depends on how long are you planning to stay, but my boyfriend has a room he's renting. There's no one there now, of course, because the season is over, so you can probably have it, if you want."

A room. It sounded like more permanent solution. That would be alright, Sasuke had no intention of going back home any time soon.

"I want to see it first."

Ino nodded and continued to drive to the same direction. "Sure. But, he's alone there, so there are no meals or cleaning service or anything. You get your own bathroom and you can use the kitchen whenever you want, though."

That actually sounded even better. Sasuke was fine with taking care of himself. Sharing a house with one person was much better than sharing with a whole family or other inn guests. He nodded again and Ino smiled.

* # * # *

Naruto was struggling up the narrow staircase with his new LCD TV in his hands. The thing was not heavy, but it was big, so he had to be careful. It was completely new, delivered that afternoon. Naruto had ordered it as soon as his last tenant had gotten out. He finally had his gaming room back.

Not that Ino was wrong. Renting that spare room during the season was profitable, he earned some extra money. Thus the new TV. But he'd missed the room anyway.

Even though Naruto knew it must be Ino from the way the door burst open, he still cringed when she yelled, "Naruto!"

"Up here!" He yelled back. It was good she came. He had forgotten to leave the door of the room open and didn't want to risk using his elbow. It was an expensive TV.

Ino was not alone. She was talking to someone – who was not bothering to answer – and there were two sets of steps up the stairs. Naruto waited at the top, impatiently trying to lean and see without much success. Why couldn't _he_ just ignore Ino when she started to talk like that, without pissing her off?

As she passed the curve, Naruto finally saw the person with her. It was a guy. A stranger.

His suspicions were confirmed when Ino's smile solidified as she glanced up at Naruto. "This is your new tenant. If he likes it here."

If the new potential tenant liked it in Naruto's house, he was not showing it. He was not even bothering to look around. He was looking at Naruto without any expression on his pale, wet face. If Naruto were willing to let go of his new TV for that long, he would give him a towel, just because there were water drops in his eyelashes that were very hard not to stare at.

Naruto blinked and shifted his gaze to the dark drenched strands of hair that were sticking to the guy's neck. He opened his mouth and managed a "Hi."

"Is that the room?" The stranger asked, undisturbed by Naruto's inappropriate staring. "Can I see it?"

"Yes, of course!" Ino answered immediately. Naruto recovered enough to glare at her, but she ignored him. He did not want tenants, damn it! He had just gotten his room back, he wanted it for himself. And he did not want this person to live in his house. He didn't seem very nice.

Ino opened the door and let the guy inside. They both passed Naruto, but after the stranger walked into the room, he left the door wide open. Pretty considerate – for someone who didn't know how to say 'hello'. Naruto followed them in and left the big TV in its place.

Ino was talking, "See, there's a nice view from the window – but this house is on the edge of town, so every room has a lovely view. You have a large closet over here – Naruto, why are your things in here? Take them out! Oh, and see? Naruto just bought a new television!"

"What? No!" Naruto panicked. "That's mine, I bought it for me!"

"Then why is it in the room you're renting?"

"I wasn't planning to rent it again. The TV is _mine_."

Ino sighed, like she was talking to an idiot. "You have a better chance of renting the room out if you have a TV in it."

"There's a TV in the living room, he can use that one." Naruto insisted. If he had to give up his room again, he was keeping his new TV. So he repeated once again, for good measure, "The TV is mine, I'm taking it to my room."

Ino narrowed her eyes until they her blue irises disappeared. Her mouth was opening and Naruto cringed, expecting a storm… But she got cut off.

"I don't watch television." The potential tenant said. "Is that the bathroom?"

Ino and Naruto fell silent. They followed the guy as he walked into the small but well kept bathroom – it wasn't being used at all, except in a case of emergency. He tried the taps and flushed the toilet twice in a row.

"Fine." Was the verdict. "I'm taking it. Leave me now so I can take a shower."

What a jerk. A total asshole. But he was letting Naruto have his TV, which was good – no fight with Ino and, well, extra money was good, too. He may as well stay. And he should definitely take a shower to warm up and put on something dry. The clothes he was wearing were so wet they were clinging to him like second skin, and dripping all over the place.

"Okay, then. I'm going home." Ino said cheerfully. "It was good to meet you, Sasuke! I hope the room suits you."

She pulled Naruto out of the bathroom with her. The door closed behind them without an answer. At least Naruto caught the name. It would be kind of stupid to ask someone who had spent the night in your house for a name over the breakfast.

"Why did you bring him here?" Naruto demanded as soon as they were out of the room. "You know I was looking forward to having the room back!"

Ino hissed at him, "You can play video games in your own room. He was walking on the road to town, in this rain. I couldn't leave him there."

"You could have pointed out the inn." Naruto told her. "You shouldn't pick up strangers anyway. He could have raped you or something."

"I have my prod."

Naruto groaned. Why was she so stubborn? "That thing's not even working, Ino!"

"Well, when you get money from this guy, you can buy me a taser." She answered and leaned in for a kiss. She smelled nice; Naruto could recognize the subtle scent of rain and soil under her perfume. He loved it and gathered her closer in his arms.

"Are you gonna stay over?"

"Not tonight." Ino answered with a sigh. She was like a kitten, scratching and hissing, only to melt under a couple of strokes. "I promised my father I'd help him with setting up the new greenhouse and I skipped today to buy you your birthday present. I have to help him first thing in the morning."

"What did you buy me?" Naruto grinned. He was pretty sure she wouldn't tell him, but he had to ask.

"A book." Ino answered easily, trying to wriggle out of the hug. Naruto let his mouth fall open in disbelief –surely she wasn't serious? He had loads of books he'd inherited and the only person that bothered with them was Sakura.

But Ino lost her fight to try and keep her face straight and laughed at him. She waved him goodbye and when she walked out, Naruto could still hear her peals of laughter on the other side of the door.

Naruto returned to the living room a few minutes later, wondering how the hell he had managed to leave his new TV in the room upstairs and if it would be safe to go back to get it.

* # * # *

One week after he arrived in Konoha, Sasuke was standing at his window, behind the curtain. He was watching Naruto as he cut trees for firewood with a red axe. It was fascinating. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly was so fascinating about watching a grown man working in the backyard in a thin shirt on a cold day, but he couldn't stop staring.

Naruto was…

Well, his first impression was that Naruto was an idiot. That hadn't changed. The problem was that Naruto was also cheerful, easygoing and harder to avoid than Itachi. His house was not small, but the entire ground floor was one large room that included a kitchen, dining and living room and a lot of open, useless space broken only by a few pillars. With the rainy weather outside, his only choices were to either sit alone in his room or sit downstairs where Naruto always was and was forever _talking_. And in some cases…it wasn't too bad. Mostly because there was no way Naruto could make him answer a question, and got amusingly frustrated whenever Sasuke would say that it was none of his business to ask anyway.

It was the first sunny day since he had come to Konoha. He had been in town once; Ino had given him a ride. There was nothing to see. People were used to strangers, so the group drinking and watching the rain from the porch of the store barely glanced at him. He had bought stuff he thought he would need using cash, to spite Itachi, and returned to Naruto's home. It wasn't wonderful, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been, either.

It was fairly good. Kitchen was clean, bathroom was clean, and the sheets were clean. Naruto was easier on the eyes than he was on the easr and it was a damn shame a remote with a mute function had not been included in the package with him. But today, from the other side of the window...

Naruto was not sweating. He was not straining himself. He seemed to like spending time outside in the sun, and the way he was moving around made it seem like cutting trees wasn't hard work, and suddenly, Sasuke wanted some fresh air.

He walked out in his long sleeved shirt. It was cold; even the sunlight on his skin felt like it had teeth.

Sasuke wandered around the yard for while. There were half a dozen walnut trees lining the path toward the shed in the back. They were all huge, much taller than the house, with some branched low enough to hide a large part of the house when looked at from the yard. The leaves ware beginning to fall off, so the ground beneath was like a carpet with spots of amber. A squeaky, wet carpet. Meh.

Loud thudding snapped Sasuke's attention back to Naruto every so often. The logs he was cutting had been covered during the rain, so they were dry under the canopy of the walnut treetops.

Naruto caught his gaze while taking a short breathing break and grinned, "Wanna give it a go?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

Naruto shrugged. "You seemed interested."

Interested? Watching Naruto go back to his work, raising the axe above his head and letting it fall down on the right place to split the log in half, while exposing every tense, nicely shaped muscle on his body, Sasuke smiled to himself. Yeah, interested. Good word choice for once, Naruto.

"Fine." Sasuke found himself saying. "Show me."

As Naruto stopped to wait for him and grinned again, warning bells in Sasuke's head jangled about blonde girlfriends with rights. Sasuke ignored them. He was just getting a little taste. That was all. It wouldn't even be a proper taste, more like… a sniff. It wasn't as if Naruto would even notice.

"Here," Naruto said, giving him the axe. "Hold it like this, not too low but not at the very end either." Sasuke took the axe, very deliberately causing some skin on skin contact under the pretense of trying to hold the axe exactly the way Naruto had been. Naruto wore no gloves. His hands had to be bumpy and rough from the manual labor. Sasuke imagined them stroking his thighs and shivered violently. "Maybe you should have dressed warmer. It's colder then it seems."

Sasuke ignored Naruto's worried tone. "Now what?"

After a moment of hesitation, Naruto explained, "Try to hit the middle of the log with the middle of the edge." Sasuke did not let go of the axe as Naruto moved it to show him where to aim. The axe under their hands made a mark on the log. "The wood is not knotted; one solid hit should do it."

One solid hit did it. Naruto had moved so he would not get in the way. Sasuke broke the log without much effort and was rewarded with a huge grin. It was just a small thing, but Sasuke answered with a self satisfied smirk anyway. The last thing he expected was for Naruto to step back from him like the axe he had been reaching for burned him.

"Er." He said. Sasuke was almost sure Naruto's face grew redder under the flush from physical effort.

"What?" He snapped when Naruto just kept looking back at him without a word. His tone seemed to have broken Naruto out of his reverie. He stepped forward determinedly and took the axe out of Sasuke's hands, throwing it over his shoulder.

"You look cold. Better go inside."

Sasuke watched as he picked up the pieces of the log and replaced them with a new one, marveling about what the hell happened. It was irritating that he couldn't figure it out, but as Naruto ignored him doggedly while continuing his work, it made no sense to linger. He could speculate about it someplace else.

Sasuke turned back to the house.

* # * # *

_What the hell was that?_ Naruto thought, letting his axe fall down. It cut through the log as if it were made of butter and got stuck in the bigger log underneath. _What the hell was that? What happened?_

That entire thing, from the moment he heard the door of his house open – what was it? He could feel Sasuke's eyes on him like physical contact, but that wasn't new. It had happened a couple of times before; if he wasn't actively ignoring Naruto, Sasuke was either in his room or… _staring_ wouldn't be a good term, because Naruto never caught him at it or anything. He could feel that itchy sensation that always made him want to look over his shoulder and find the source of his discomfort. He rarely gave into it. He learned quickly that once he did, Sasuke would stop looking.

And for reasons Naruto would be happy not to have to think about, ever, that displeased him.

It was easy for him to pretend he wasn't noticing anything. Why would he acknowledge it? Weirder people had stayed at his place over the summer. There had been this man who only ate boiled eggs. And there had been a woman – in her fifties – who had hit on him in an embarrassing and clumsy way every time he'd seen her. Sasuke looking at him for whatever reasons, while he was busy with something else, was not an actual bother.

Or it hadn't been until today.

Naruto kicked away the log he was done with and positioned the next one.

It was that smirk. That self-important air. The arrogance. Naruto, who always liked nice girls and occasionally thought about asking Ino to marry him, had almost dropped his axe and proceeded to do things completely unacceptable at the sight of it close up. A smirk, some blatant insolence in a haughty, city guy and Naruto legs were still not completely steady.

What happened, apparently, was that he was sexually attracted to his tenant.

Naruto gritted his teeth. When after ten minutes it was clear that frustration wouldn't be going anywhere and after Naruto missed two logs completely because of it, he gave up. He took the axe to the shed where it belonged and covered the wood in case it rained before going back to the house.

He didn't see Sasuke for the rest of the day, which was probably for the best.

*

Three days later and without further incidents to ponder over, Naruto was merrily preparing food for his friends. It was his birthday. He was going to get presents and have a wonderful evening. He was going to make Ino stay the night, even if he had to take her back at five in the morning so she could help her family's greenhouses. He was going to drink and forget all about those two confusing dreams he had recently - he was much too old to have wet dreams and if he _was_ having them, they should have at least been about his girlfriend.

"That's foul." A vice interrupted him. Naruto glared at Sasuke with venom. A bit of food had fallen on the countertop and laid there for awhile, until he noticed. It wasn't a big deal.

Sasuke waited expectantly, like he had made a polite inquiry.

"It's nothing." Naruto said, forcing his eyes to follow the movement of the knife in his hands and not Sasuke. "Just a small accident. You can open the window, if you want."

Sasuke sat in a chair at the bar table that separated the kitchen from the rest of the ground floor. "That's a lot of food."

"Yeah," Naruto said. He was irrationally irritated. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't lock his jaw every time Sasuke was in the same room as him. Nor could he strangle his tenant. "It's my birthday."

There was a moment of silence. Unwillingly, Naruto held his breath in expectation.

"You're having a party?"

Naruto exhaled. This guy didn't see fit to introduce himself when he moved in. He was stupid for expecting a happy birthday wish from him.

"Yeah," He said, thinking about it. "No, not really. It's not really a party, they just show up and I happen to have food and cake. Sometimes, we stay up late. Not really a party, just… I don't know."

Sasuke looked amused. "Friends gathering and having fun together is what a party essentially is."

Naruto regretted looking up at him, because amusement meant smirks. And they were making him itchy even when they were not quite as dazzling as the one that had been plaguing his mind recently.

"I meant, it's probably not how people in larger places do it."

"How people have fun depends more on their personality than on the place they live in." Sasuke said. Naruto stopped cutting the paprika in order to digest that, but Sasuke continued, "Do you need some help?"

Naruto dared a glance up. No smirks waited to trap him into a lusty haze. It might work out – as long as Sasuke stayed on his side of the bar table. Wordlessly, Naruto handed over the cutting board, onions and a knife and restrained a smirk of his own. It was a dry year. The entire sack of onions he had bought from the market was very strong. Watching Sasuke have irritated eyes and sinuses, and tear up promised some fun and a light revenge for messing with his mind.

He was equally surprised and amused when Sasuke picked them up to walk over to the sink. Stupid irritating spoiled rich city guys and their indecency not to act like it. Naruto glared and then regretted it, because Sasuke was now only a few feet away and… _smirking_.

He wouldn't be smirking once he realized that those onions were too strong to be neutralized completely under the running water, but Naruto wanted him to really suffer, not just tear up a bit. In the meantime, he'd better look at his own work and stop trying to find excuses to move to Sasuke's side of the kitchen.

* # * # *

Sasuke tried to focus on the sounds of the rapidly approaching storm instead of the voices coming from a few yards away.

They were an annoying bunch. They were loud, they were curious and… they had Ino with them. Which he shouldn't mind, she was nothing but kind to him. Unfortunately, even Sasuke could see that Ino was pretty, smart and cared about her boyfriend. And how much her hand brushing over Naruto's stomach absentmindedly bothered him was both telling and disturbing.

"So, Sasuke…" Someone said, emphasizing his name as if trying to make absolutely sure they got it right. If he was the type to do that sort of thing, he'd have groaned aloud. What's next, the forth attempt to find out why he wasn't home, like all spoiled rich boys should be? Or the sixth attempt of trying to make him slip and tell them his last name? "Is Naruto a good host?"

Naruto was an excellent host, and he gave Sasuke all the freedom to do whatever he wanted. He was tidier than expected, shared the food he would prepare generously and, as a consequence of his restless nature, always finding things to do around the house. Things that demanded bending and stretching.

"I've had worse." Sasuke said finally to the expecting lot.

The tall girl with her hair reflecting a suspicious pink tint laughed, pointing out a book shelf where Naruto at some point had carelessly left a sock, "But I bet you've also had better."

_She's a clever one_, Sasuke's mind whispered. _She's been giving you odd looks all evening._ _Don't do it._

"That's harder to determine." He said, sporting a suggestive smirk. "At this distance."

Someone laughed – Sasuke rather hoped not at his words, because he disliked morons – but the girl just halted. Her green eyes widened, narrowed, strayed to where Ino was saying something while looking directly into Naruto's eyes and looked back at Sasuke.

"Ino," She said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What would she say, _this guy said it's hard for him to determine if he's had a better host than your boyfriend which means he wants to fuck the brains out of him?_ "Were you planning on going back with me tonight? I'm thinking about spending the night at my aunt's."

"What?" Ino answered. "I have to, my father is finishing the new greenhouse, I still have to help him and you said you'd give me a ride! I knew I should have taken my own car."

"It's junk."

Ino glared at her friend. Naruto wrapped his arms around her and kissed her somewhere behind her ear. "I'll drive you home first thing in the morning. How's that?"

He glanced at Sasuke behind her ponytail, with a look that was a hybrid between triumph, curiosity and anger. Actually, he often had that look on his face in the last couple days. Something was eating him up.

Ino relaxed against Naruto. Ignoring the uncomfortable twitch his stomach did at the sight, Sasuke returned his gaze to the pink headed girl. She smiled brightly at him. "Sorry for the interruption. You were saying?"

No one would really mind if he drowned this bitch in the toilet, right? No one possibly could, if she was this annoying all the time.

"I like it here." He answered. It came out smooth and flat, thanks to some serious effort. "It's quiet, most of the time. I don't think I'll be going anywhere any time soon."

Of course, her eyes darkened. She surely hadn't forgotten that he was living here, with Naruto, while Ino had to help with family business all the time? Of course, a couple of well chosen words could kick him out in a heartbeat. He shouldn't have said anything. She reacted swiftly and cleverly, if for nothing else than to make sure she wasn't wrong. Sasuke hoped his face didn't reveal any emotion. But she was looking carefully and he, no matter how hard he had tried in the past, was not Itachi.

Fortunately, someone asked some other question and they both got distracted.

#

Sometime later, Sasuke was finishing his forth glass of homemade blueberry wine, standing at the bar table, away from everyone else. He usually avoided alcohol. It tended to mess with his reasoning and he would wake up in the morning, discovering that he did and said inexcusable crap.

Tonight, though, Sasuke had to do something. He always knew he was the jealous type, ever since he was a kid and mother and father spent more time with Itachi than with him. He was possessive of what was his, and that was okay. But seething quietly over his short-term landlord kissing and groping his girlfriend was bordering on ridiculous.

Even if Naruto would open his eyes to find Sasuke, of all people in the room, every few minutes. He seemed angry at himself for doing it and angrier still at Sasuke for not disappearing into the thin air for the sake of his conscience, but he was also unable to stop. That was why Sasuke retreated to the mostly dark kitchen. He should have noticed earlier that Naruto was interested right back. He should have seen that the overstated annoyance in the last several days was just a pitiful attempt at denial.

He had much more self-control than Naruto, though. He had his back to the room, and he was definitely not trying to catch snatches of Naruto's voice that would mean he had dived out. Despite of what he'd said to the pink-… Sakura, Sasuke had every intention of leaving as soon as possible. Things changed dramatically with Naruto's painful obviousness.

The storm descended on the house at some point. It was loud and the girls, predictably, voiced their preferences not to sit close to the windows. Sasuke just reached to pour himself the fifth glass when the electricity went down. They were all swallowed by darkness and the protesting voices of Naruto's guest's rang loudly.

They didn't sound particularly upset. Sasuke realized why when he heard Naruto's voice clearly with the volume turned a notch or four up so everyone could hear. "It's working, I fixed it this summer – it will just take a bit. I'll go turn it on and you guys… don't do anything I wouldn't."

He laughed. Some of his friends laughed with him, some mocked him. Sasuke thought of things Naruto could do in the dark and get away with.

* # * # *

_Did you know he is interested in you? _

Naruto shook his head to get rid of Sakura's voice. He had pretended he had no idea what she was talking about when she cornered him at the bathroom door, but the truth was, he knew. He could feel it. Sasuke's fleeting looks were more potent, almost alive on his skin the entire evening. He was even more aware of it when Ino was around, so…

_So you kept her around as much as possible, you sick, twisted jerk_.

Naruto could feel his suppressed anger and frustration finally showing on his face, now that no one could see him. Someone lit a candle, but that was far away on the other side of the house, so it didn't matter. Saying he was horny despite the anger was a painful understatement. Ino had noticed. She jokingly brushed his cock through his jeans earlier and even though the contact felt good, Naruto just barely managed to not push her hand away.

That was not what he wanted. _She_ was not what he wanted.

He started when he saw the lean silhouette in the kitchen. Technically, the wavering candle light from the other side of the room shouldn't be enough for him to see, but he knew it was Sasuke. He had gone there to sit alone maybe about an hour ago. Naruto gathered some strength of will before he started walking. He needed a flashlight and the only workable one was in the kitchen.

Sasuke did not move. Not even when Naruto had to brush next to him to get to the drawers.

_If he does anything, anything at all…_ Naruto thought darkly. It was dark and they were as good as alone; the kitchen seemed miles away from everyone. He almost itched for it, so he'd have a good excuse to hit his tenant over in the face.

But all Sasuke did was dig his cell phone out of his pocket and turn it on, so the illuminated screen would provide some light. Instead of gratefulness, Naruto felt so irritated that he grinded his teeth and made too much noise digging though the junk.

Sasuke leaned closer to give him more light. He asked, "What are you looking for?"

At the sound of his voice, Naruto flinched.

"Well, _fuck_." He hissed. Who the hell put that – whatever it was – there?

Sasuke dropped on his knees to see better. In the eerie, bluish light, he looked concerned. Odd warmth filled Naruto's lungs and he snapped after a second, "It's just a cut. It wouldn't have happened if you were holding that thing so I could actually make use of it."

"What are you looking for?" Sasuke repeated like he did not hear Naruto at all.

"Flashlight."

"There's one behind the front door."

"I forgot to buy a new battery for it." Naruto admitted. He had it on the list. He had just forgotten to take the list with him when he went shopping. The stupidity of it wasn't helping him feel any better. "There should be one here."

Sasuke angled his phone better, only to illuminate a hill of all kinds of kitchen aid tools. It was going to take too long.

Naruto looked up. He could see Sasuke better now, when the beam wasn't pointed directly into his face. His anger subdued some. Sasuke didn't look like he was having any fun. The light reflected in his eyes as he looked back at Naruto, looking sort of tired and maybe a little curious.

"I – I," Naruto stammered breathlessly. Jesus Christ. He wasn't a second away from leaning in, was he? Surely he wasn't. Ino was in the room with them! "I don't need a flashlight, it's my yard, I can find my way…" He rose quickly to his feet and stumbled backwards. Actually looking away from Sasuke's now frowning face was the hardest part, but eventually, Naruto managed it.

He walked out in a hurry. The wind was strong, mixed with some icy rain. Natural cold shower, exactly what he needed. Naruto laughed, bitterly, and refused to think about it.

It took him some time to reach the shed with the generator. The sky was very dark, he had to be very careful about each step he took. It was not very close; the yard behind the house was large.

The generator was in very good condition. Turned on, it purred to life instantly. Naruto got up to check and smiled as the house behind him flared with light. The light was only turned on downstairs. Only one small window looked his way, but it was enough to be sure everything was fine.

Naruto stepped out into the wind again and stopped dead as a beam of light blinded him.

"I wasn't sure how long that would take." Sasuke yelled over the roar of the wind, presumably apologizing or explaining about following Naruto out. It didn't matter. He should have dressed more warmly. Naruto was starting to believe Sasuke didn't have anything warm to wear, for it was impossible to be immune on the bitter edge of this wind.

"You're going to freeze to death." He yelled back, averting his eyes. The wooden door was resisting, supported by the blustery weather. Naruto pulled it, careful not to let it slip from him. It'd probably smash if he let go.

Forever helpful, as he had been all day long – and what the fuck was up with that, he hadn't raised a finger to help at all in all the weeks since he'd moved in – Sasuke leaned close and worked the heavy padlock with one hand. It wasn't working. Naruto followed it with his eyes as Sasuke tucked the flashlight into his belt and couldn't find it in him to look back. Somewhere near Naruto's head, the padlock clicked closed loudly enough for him to hear it.

Sasuke made a step back, but Naruto was quick. He snatched the flashlight and turned it off.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said. He gave up on retreating, so they were still close enough not to have to yell. With the way wind was pulling on the branches and the thundering in the distance, it was very close.

* # * # *

It was a useless question but asked for a reason. It was Naruto's last opportunity to back off, no matter how much Sasuke didn't want him to do that. The words were tucked between them because something needed to be there for a moment longer and the air had apparently given up on them at some point.

Naruto didn't bother wasting his time on asking for permission. Sasuke wasn't confused or startled when there was a hand at the back of his head, dragging him determinately forward. He saw the intention quite clearly on Naruto's face a moment before the flashlight turned off. So he followed up with helping Naruto find his mouth in the darkness and accepting the kiss with the ravenousness of a street beggar presented with food.

There was a taste of blood on Naruto's tongue and there was a salty undertone of food. Both got drowned in Sasuke's mouth when Naruto kissed him hard, biting – almost as if he believed that he could bring across his mixed feelings through kissing without making Sasuke groan the hotness of his arousal back into him.

Naruto reacted to the sound that was loud despite the howling of the windstorm. His hand twisted in Sasuke's hair as he pulled them completely against each other, growling low in his throat like a wild animal. The quality of the kiss rose quickly from messy and feral to demanding and mind-blowingly _brilliant_.

Sasuke leaned and relaxed into Naruto's body for the warmth, windshield and steadiness. When the kiss grew tired of the bruising violence, it softened to a hypnotic minuet. Naruto's hand let go of Sasuke's hair and lowered to cup his shoulder, firmly holding him close as neither one of them could find will or reason to stop kissing for quite some time. They ended up leaned against the shed, just next to the door.

It started raining harder. It didn't matter much at first, but very soon Naruto forced his mouth away in a single swift move. "You're shaking."

Sasuke backed off half a step. He was cold, even if that information did not quite reach his brain until Naruto spoke. He was about to answer, when Naruto choked, "Oh, God. I am such a _jerk_."

There was so much bitter resentment in his voice, Sasuke cringed inwardly.

Naruto continued, with vigor. "And _you_…"

"I don't have a girlfriend." Sasuke pointed out. He did not have to make an effort to sound cold. Naruto's accusing tone had frozen him effectively.

"I know that!"

"So what were you planning on accusing me of? Seduction?"

"Assholeness! And _smirking_!" Naruto said resentfully, like the words actually had some meaning. He breathed in, presumably trying to calm down. "Let go of me."

He _should_ let go, because Naruto had already done it himself. The place on his ribcage where Naruto's body had been pressing just a moment ago was still tingling. Sasuke's own hands stayed firmly where they were, around Naruto's waist, not quite as harshly pressed against the wall. "No."

He expected anger and a fight, but Naruto halted his attempt to break free by force as if the word stunned him. "What?"

"I don't feel like letting go of you." And the evening of possessive rage fit quite nicely into that one sentence. It was simple. If Sasuke let go, Naruto would run right back inside and fuck his perfect little girlfriend to wipe out the memory of this encounter. And as much as he had the right to say no, he didn't have the right to deny what happened.

Sasuke pressed closer again, this time forcefully. Naruto reacted by taking in a shuddering lungful of air. His fingers closed over Sasuke's elbows, digging in painfully, but he wasn't fighting any longer.

"It's too late to pretend nothing happened."

"I know that." Naruto sighed. Sasuke could barely see the line of his neck as he tilted his head back to rest it on the wall so he traced it with his mouth. It was wet and tasted like nothing. "I wasn't going to…"

"Then what were you planning, to go and have a heart to heart with her?" Naruto winced; fight waking up in him again. Sasuke pressed harder, using the entire length of his body. "In front of all your friends?"

"Better than…" Naruto started, just when Sasuke succeeded in positioning them flush against each other, stomach to stomach, groin to groin. He did not move, not yet, but Naruto finished in broken, distracted voice, "to lie to her."

"Your choice." Sasuke said almost directly into Naruto's ear. He moved; thrust his hips forward just a little bit. Naruto groaned. "But I'll make sure she breaks your legs for a good reason."

Sasuke moved away slightly. Naruto followed mindlessly, arching his hips forward. He growled, "Would you stop _talking_ about her?"

_Gladly_, Sasuke thought and reached for Naruto's zipper. Naruto's head was pressed against his shoulder, breath not nearly warm enough, as he brushed his palm over the head of Naruto's cock and closed his hand around it. He couldn't feel the texture, his hands were so cold they hurt. Naruto didn't seem to mind too much; he gasped, but he did not flinch. His head slipped lower into the crook of Sasuke's neck and then his breath was warm enough to cause a heat in Sasuke's stomach to stir and coil.

He jerked his hand, maybe a bit too violently. Naruto gasped in surprise and stumbled over meaningless words, his voice rough and loud, "Oh, _holy_… Fuck-_ing _shit."

Sasuke repeated the movements, with careful slowness. It resulted in Naruto breathing in a little easier and pulling him closer. There was very little space left between them left for Sasuke's hand to stroke. Naruto didn't seem to care. He wetted his lips, the place on Sasuke's neck where his damp lips brushed burned like ice bite when the wind hit it.

Focused on stopping his shivering, he was caught by surprise when he felt Naruto's hand moving. It slipped from his shoulder, lingered on his stomach just enough to wake up the curled snake that lived there and finally, with agonizing slowness, reached low enough to rub the side of his cock through his pants. For such a clumsy and simple touch, Sasuke gave out an embarrassingly loud vocal response. He could hear Naruto growl again, low and dangerous, but he couldn't help it. It'd been too long; he pushed his hips forward and thrusted, partly into Naruto's hand and partly into his thigh.

It was all blurred together after that. Their erratic movements were hidden in the darkness, their sharp exhalations and occasional gasps fused with the storm's wild roars. Sasuke did notice that Naruto was unsuccessfully trying to stifle the sounds he was making by biting into his shoulder and that one of those bites was what drew him right over the edge of his orgasm, despite the tight grip and awkward angle of Naruto's hand on him. He also noticed that Naruto murmured incomprehensible things through kisses when he followed, and by the time it was all over, Sasuke's neck was probably nothing but a huge bruise.

"Hell," Naruto said, making what should have been post orgasmic bliss sound like bitter resentment. "And _fuck_. I can't believe…"

Who the fuck cared? Sasuke pushed himself off the wall, away from Naruto. The wind instantly blew the winter into his bones. "If you want to keep that girlfriend of yours, better learn how to control yourself better."

"What?" Naruto demanded. "I said…"

"Just shut up!" Sasuke snapped, furious. Why was he so angry? He shouldn't be angry, it was just Naruto and if he regretted it, well, that should hardly be a surprise. He should go out in town and use a credit card. Itachi would find him in a matter of hours, just like every time Sasuke would get tired of wandering. He should go home. Konoha was never a good place to stay at in the first place - not in Naruto's house, not with him around. "And buckle up before returning inside."

He took another look – a quick, resentful look – at Naruto. It was not much brighter, but his eyes had gotten used to it. It helped that he knew most of the shapes and angles of Naruto's body now, could still feel them under his hands. Naruto was mad himself, but too perplexed to react just yet. He was still leaning on the wall, his jeans open and hands clenched. Sasuke wished he could lean in just once more, one last time, and kiss him.

He had done enough already, though. It was time to go.

* # * # *

Naruto watched as Sasuke turned away from him with a look of utter disgust and walk away. He took a moment to imagine hitting him as hard as possible in his face. By the time the hit was satisfyingly painful in his mind, Sasuke was almost at the door of the house.

Naruto tried to put himself in order. He zipped his pants, fixed his shirt. It was hard to see under the light of the flashlight if there were stains on his clothes, but the sparse drops of cold rain left their own traces all over him, so it shouldn't be too obvious.

The light almost blinded him when he walked through the door into the main room.

"What's up with him?" Kiba asked straight away.

"What?" Naruto asked, blinking stupidly several times.

"Sasuke," Ino answered instead of Kiba. She took Naruto by the elbow and started dragging him toward the radiators. "He just stormed upstairs."

"Oh, we," Naruto said. "We had a fight."

"Why? You said he paid his rent for three months upfront."

Naruto snatched his arm out of Ino's grasp, annoyed with her. Did she really think that money was the only thing people could fight about? And why was she so blind? Why did she have to bring Sasuke to his house in the first place?

"You look half frozen." Sakura butted in, so he didn't manage to answer anything. "You need a drink."

Naruto gladly accepted it. And it was what he kept doing for the rest of the evening, after a short bathroom break; he kept drinking until he sort of forgot that Sasuke was alone in his room on the second floor, pissed about Naruto kissing him and regretting he had not let go when he was given a chance.

Ino gave up on trying to find out what was up with him soon enough. Sakura kept pouring him more alcohol with a sad and disapproving look that made him feel fourteen again.

It was the worst birthday ever, even if the hand job was worth the guilt.

#

Naruto did not wake up with a headache in the morning, but the vomiting was unbearable. If there was a way for him to throw up his digestive tract, he would have.

Around noon, when he finally found his way downstairs, Naruto found a note on the kitchen counter. It was from Sasuke, which he deduced from the tone, as he never had the opportunity to see the handwriting before.

'_If that piece of deformed metal breaks down on me, I'm leaving it behind'._

It took all of three seconds for the information to reach Naruto's soaked brain. A short search, full of adrenalin-fueled cursing and occasional heaving of his stomach, discovered that his car was missing. As were all of Sasuke's things. The room was wiped clean. He'd just… left. Without even saying goodbye, after he messed up and turned Naruto's entire life upside down.

But then, he never even properly said hello.

The anger drained out of Naruto's system. Sasuke was gone. He'd taken Naruto's car, so it was not completely unbelievable that he would…

Oh, who was he lying to? Bastard took his car and ran off, like a sleazy little coward. If that was what he wanted, he could have left like normal person. Naruto would have given him back his money. What did he think, that Naruto would lock him into his basement and chain him to the wall to keep him around?

….Okay, not _entirely_ without merits, that idea. Also, it was oddly refreshing to think things like that, even in anger, without feeling guilty.

Naruto gave up and sat on the bed, next to the neat heap of Sasuke's crumpled sheets. He glared at the blue cotton for long moments, before pushing his face into it and inhaling. It smelled like the stupid flowery conditioner Ino had bought for him to use on the things for the renting room.

It made him sick again, so Naruto hurried to the bathroom.

#

Two weeks later, when Naruto was still thinking about what he should do with Ino, the money came for him. It was about the right amount for his stupid car, not that Naruto wanted it. He did need it, so he went to the post office first chance he got. There was no letter or a note, which was disappointing.

There was, however, Sasuke's full name on the receipt he had to sign to take the money. Naruto kept staring at it in the empty post office, under the curious gaze of the clerk. It had been a bumpy two weeks. He was feeling odd, like he was missing an arm that was still twitching. He had moved completely to the room that in his head had become 'Sasuke's room'. He'd found all sorts of excuses not to let Ino sleep over – which meant that she never stayed over for long. They were still dating, but…

Naruto's fingers traced Sasuke's surname before trailing to the box that contained an address. He smiled. That should be enough, a full name and the address, if you wanted to find someone, right? Maybe Sasuke wouldn't be so happy to see him, but that was okay. What Naruto needed was some sort of closure, not a happy ending.

He considered stopping by at his house to pick up some things, but that way he'd miss the only bus that lead out of Konoha on Sundays. Naruto put the money he picked up into his wallet and turned left from the post office; straight toward the bus station.

He was not too old to go out on a little adventure, after all.


End file.
